


Hogwarts' Recess

by Flaunderoys_Handkerchief



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Recess (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Hogwarts Express, Miss Finster (mentioned), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Recess characters going to Hogwarts, Recess meets Harry Potter, Rubeus hagrid - Freeform, adventures and pranks, neville longbottom - Freeform, sorry if it's a bit OOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 08:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15904869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flaunderoys_Handkerchief/pseuds/Flaunderoys_Handkerchief
Summary: Recess meets Harry Potter. Adventures, fun and action guaranteed! This story will consist of random One-Shots and Multi-Shots all set in the Harry Potter Universe. And now brace yourself because wherever T.J. and co. show up there won't be any quiet time for Filch and Mrs. Norris...





	1. Prologue

T.J. Detweiler was sitting on the jungle gym, the new Rusty of Third Street Elementary School. One last time he wanted to be at the place where he and his friends had spend the happiest time of their youth. Even though he had not been very interested in his classes and Miss Finster had always tried to make his life a living hell, recess had been something special. But now all of that belonged to the past and he suddenly felt terribly old. Of course, not as old as an adult, that would truly be a nightmare! After all, T.J. was still the prankster prince and he never wanted to become as serious and boring as one of the adults. Nevertheless, he could feel his childhood slipping away from him. He was moving towards something new and uncertain which frightened him a bit. Before the summer holidays he had still believed to know what the future would bring: He would be in fifth grade of Third Street Elementary School together with his best friends for another year full of adventures. But now, all had changed.

Tomorrow in the early morning, T.J and his parents would set off to King’s Cross Railway Station. From there on he would travel to his new school. The new school itself seemed to be fantastic, a place full of adventures and secrets. The only catch was that he would have to go alone. Not a single one of his friends would come with him, they would go their seperate ways, and that was quite simply whomps.

And to simply stay here was not an option either because all of his friends would leave to a different place. Before the holidays, Gus had told them that he and his family would move again. Gretchen said she had changed her mind about the Oppenheimer Elementary School for the extremly gifted and would go there now after all. Mikey had gotten an offer from a school of the fine arts which he had accepted. All summer long, Spinelli had talked about this all girls school where her parents would send her next year and Vince had decided to take the offer from Chef Pierre and would go to study in France.  
T.J. was told all of this at the beginning of the summer holidays which casted a cloud over their before anxiously awaited summer time. And then he got his letter. Afterwards, he did not dare to tell his friends that his future plans had changed as well. He did not know how to tell them that even T.J. Detweiler, the pankster prince, would leave Third Street Elementary School, a place that was not imaginable without him. Besides, this employee of the ministry of magic told him that it was forbidden to say something to the so called „muggles“. There was some kind of statute of secrecy which had to be maintained at all costs.  
One last time, T.J. looked around the playground. He silently said goodbye to the cold metal poles of Rusty, the bumpy slide, the cobblestones, the swings, the big clock and to everything else which until then he had taken for granted. Tomorrow, he would leave his home to go to his new school, a boarding school. Tomorrow, he would go to Hogwarts.

The next day came and T.J.’s journey began. His parents woke him up early. He was asked for what felt like a thousand times if he had everything packed and if he was alright. T.J. was both excited to go to this new school and sad to leave his friends behind. It was also quite tiring that he had to come up with an excuse every time his emotions became to obvious in order to calm down his parents.  
When they finally arrived at King’s Cross, T.J. was relieved. Now his parents could focus on something else than on his condition. While entering the train station, T.J. looked around and was astonished. He never had seen something like this before. The train station was huge and very busy. The people around him seemed to be in a constant hurry and the feeling of farewell appeared to be everlasting. But now T.J. had to find platform 9 ¾ which would have been quite difficult if he had not been told how to get there beforehand.  
Now T.J. was standing on the platform full of strangely clothed people feeling helpless for the first time in his life. Fear swept over him more bone-crushing and disturbing as ever before so that T.J. was tempted to just turn around and go straight back to where he had come from. He had never had to fight such feelings before and he had no idea what would happen to him once he would arrive at Hogwarts. The only thing he knew was that he had to experience all of it alone without his friends and that was a quite discomforting thought.  
Behind him, his parents came through the barrier to the platform looking as astonished as he had a while ago. T.J. kicked a empty box of Berty Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans and put his hands in his pockets. Why could his friends not be wizards and witches as well?  
„T.J.“, his dad interrupted his thoughts, „Come on, we are going to take your luggage to the train. You know, this is really an amazing thing. We are proud of you, boy!“ – „Yes, let’s go!“, muttered T.J. who was still busy with his thoughts about his friends while taking his suitcase.  
„But honey“, said his mum with a concerned look which she had had all morning long and put her hand on his shoulder, „What is the matter with you? You seem to be depressed.“ In a hurry, T.J. searched his thoughts for another excuse which would lead his parents to a different topic but his otherwise neverending stock of ideas appeard to have run short. Just when he opened his mouth to respond with something he had not thought of yet, he heard it: Familiar voices! Familiar voices at a place like this!  
With squinted eyes he searched the crowd until he found them.  
„Gretchen, Vince! What are you guys doing here?“, he enthusiastically called and ran to them, leaving behind his very confused parents. „T.J.! That is wicked. You are also going to Hogwarts?“, Gretchen replyed and now T.J. noticed that not only Vince and Gretchen were there but also Mikey, Spinelli and Gus.  
„Guys, that is awesome! What are you doing here? Gus, did you not want to move? Vince, you wanted to go to France. Spinelli, Mikey and Gretchen, what about the schools that you wanted to go to?“  
Spinelli scoffed: „ All camouflage, you know, the secrecy. My dad explained it to me in full detail when I was still little. You should know that both my parents are wizards.“ – „Besides, it can have profoundly consequences if you tell something to a muggle. My dad is a wizard but my mum is a muggle. She made the experience of getting to know about the wizarding world as a muggle and knows how it is“, said Gretchen and pointed to her parents who were talking to the Detweiler’s and the Spinelli’s.  
„Well... I was only afraid that someone would arrest me and take me to Askaban if I let something slip. Sometimes I was on the verge of telling you because after all you tell your friends everything. But my mum reminded me everytime that I had to stay strong. She is the witch in our family“, said Mickey. „It has also something to do with discipline as well when you keeping something to yourself. You never know what passing such information can cause. ‚Constant vigilance!‘, would my father call it. He got that from his former boss, Moody was his name, he was a bit creepy. My family also consists of only wizards and witches, therefore from time to time we are getting such weird visitors“, Gus added his two cents.  
T.J. shook his head: „That means, you all knew about it and did not tell me? And what about you, Vince?“ – „Well... I had no idea. My brother Chad went to Hogwarts when I was so small that I did not really realize it. I knew that he went to a boarding school because he rarely visited but the fact that he is a wizard somehow escaped me. You see, my parents are not wizards. I also just found out about it some weeks ago when I got my letter.“ Vince shrugged.  
„We are not any different than Vince, my friend. We, namely Mikey, Spinelli, Gus and me knew about everything magical in this world, but we only found out that we were all wizards when we met by chance at the train station just now“, explained Gretchen and smiled. „Seems like we will spend a little more time together after all.“


	2. Delicious Pumpkin Juice and a Magical Train Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again fellow readers!  
> I hope you still stuck around for chapter 2.  
> We hope you enjoy reading and leave a review after you are done.
> 
> Also I forgot to add a disclaimer for chapter one so here it is belatedly:  
> Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter nor Disney’s Recess belong to us and we are not earning any money from writing this.
> 
> Now without further ado, on to chapter number 2!

\--------------------------------------------------------HR-----------------------------------------------------

By now the six friends had claimed their own train compartment of which they were really proud – but to be honest, there wouldn’t have been any space for another person anyways. Excited they told each other what magical things they already experienced and they speculated what Hogwarts would be like. They admired the landscape, talked about what they took with them on their journey and bought a lot of candy from a lady who was pushing a candy-trolley through the train.  
“Oh my gosh, guys, this pumpkin juice is simply amazing!“, Gus informed his friends after he had finished his fourth cup of juice.  
“Bertie Bott’s Beans are much better. The one I had just now tasted like cucumber. Not knowing what you get, that’s what really gives you a kick!“, said T.J. and Vince admitted: “I never had the same chocolate frog trading card twice. I think I have a knack for it. Wanna bet that I will have collected all of the cards first?“  
Spinelli snorted. „Yeah right, because I haven’t got a head start of about ten years.“ Vince waved that aside. 

“Time is nothing against my talent.“  
“Well Vince... actually Spinelli is right. The probability that you can collect more different cards in a shorter amount of time than Spinelli has in ten years is really low. If you count the sum of cards as the absolute term and calculate the probability how often you get different cards in connection to the temporal head start of Spinelli...“, explained Gretchen but the others had already ceased to listen after she had mentioned the word probability. While talking, Gretchen was drawing up some calculations concerning the topic on her little note pad since she had to leave her mini computer at home due to the fact that electricity could not coexist with magic. But without a doubt Gretchen would somehow find a way to overcome this problem someday during her magical studies.

After the friends had sat there for a while the door to their compartment suddenly opened. A girl with bushy, brown hair came in. She looked like she was at least in her fourth year at Hogwarts.  
“Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one“, she asked. More to herself she added in a muttered and annoyed voice: “I simply cannot believe that I have to search for this toad again. Just like in first year. Neville by now really should have learned to take better care of his things.“  
The six friends starred at the girl dumbfounded. T.J., the bravest of the group, found his voice first and answered with a slight grin on his lips: “We are really sorry but we havn’t seen a toad. But who brings something like that to Hogwarts anyways? That’s so lame. An owl is so much cooler.“ The girl put her hands on her hips and explained in a provoking way:  
“Is that so? Just because they are not very useful does not mean that they do not have a right to exist! But thanks for your help.“ And with that she was gone.  
By now the others had gathered their thoughts and started a cheerful discussion about whether a toad was a lame pet or not.  
All of the others? Barely. Gretchen was still starring at the door with her mouth and eyes wide open. After a couple of seconds the friends noticed her behavior.  
Finally Mikey spoke up: “Everything alright with you, Gretchen?“, he asked. No reaction. With a delay of a couple of seconds Gretchen eventually tried to formulate an answer:  
“D-d-do you e-even k-k-know who t-that just w-was?“  
“No idea? How should we know?“, said Vince, “Well then, who was she?“. Gretchen took a deep breath: „T-that was H-Hermione Granger. The brightest witch of her age and m-my absolute role model! I will have you know she is friends with Harry Potter and just so intelligent!“

When Gretchen finished with her talk the whole compartment broke out in utter chaos: Everyone was talking so you could not really make out a word, Gus gestured wildly and Spinelli stood up to gain herself some attention but her friends were too much preoccupied with their chaotic conversation to notice her. Mikey had already heard of Hermione before but the rest of them didn’t know her. Therefore, they had all – except T.J. – heard from the boy named Harry Potter which caused great furor amongst them. They were going to school with that hero! Maybe they would even meet him, talk with him and be friends with him!  
After T.J. had been told the story, they decided to go on a search for the famous Harry Potter in order to meet “the boy who lived“ in person. So the friends left their compartment and set forth through the train.  
Though they did not get far. They had barely stepped on the corridor when Gus started to get awefully squirrelly and had a squinched look on his face. Some minutes later he finally stopped walking and stood there with crossed legs: “Uhm guys... I know this is really not the right time now... but I kinda have to... you know... I have to go to the toilet...“

“Technically we have a problem now“, said Gretchen while she adjusted her glasses.  
“Indeed I looked up all the information I could get on the magical world but to this day my research does not mention anything about a toilet inside the Hogwarts Express.“ Gretchen gave Gus an apologetic look and started to go through her note pad hectically in order to maybe discover some information that she had overlooked.  
“N-no toilet?“, asked a meanwhile quite chalky Gus. “B-but I really have to go! Oh, why did I have to drink all of that pumpkin juice! Why, oh pumpkin juice, do you have to be so delicious? WHY?!“ Desperately, Gus sank to his knees and reached out his hands to the sky. He looked like he was going to cry any second now. In that moment, T.J. put a hand on his shoulder and said:  
“Gus, my friend, we will find the toilet for you. I, T.J. Detweiler, the prankster prince, promise you that!“ Gus suddenly looked much happier and smiled at T.J..  
“Really T.J., you would do that for me?“, he said impressed.  
“Of course, Gus. Friends have to stick together! Did we not help Mikey when he had stage fright? Or did we let Spinelli down when she was held prisoner by the Ashleys? Did I not have some great advice at hand when Gretchen really wanted to buy that red bicycle? Did we not bring Vince back down to earth when he became really arrogant because he thought he was the best kickball player there was? And did you abandon me when Miss Finster made me her slave by using the box? Of course not! And that is why we will give everything we got to help you solve your problem. Understood?“

After this again quite uplifting speech of T.J., the friends decided to explore the train further and to ask some older students if they knew where the toilet was.  
But nobody seemed to know anything. Quite often they heard them say things like “Toilet? Never heard of one“, “Just suck it up“ or „“Simply hold it in a while longer, we are almost there I think“.  
The longer they were searching the more desperate Gus grew since he really could not hold it much longer. Their search culminated in a confrontation with a blonde fourth-year student who, when they asked him where to find the toilet, just looked at them maliciously and exclaimed that he would not mingle with first-years. Least of all if there was the possibility that they might be “mudbloods“ and anyways he would only talk to people from Slytherin.  
Thereupon Spinelli got awfully angry which was accompanied by the words “I will show you mudblood!“ Only the united strength of Vince and Mikey was able to hold her back from jumping at the blonde student. In the end, it was also the a little bit frightning friends of the nasty, blonde boy that caused the six friends including Spinelli to withdraw. After all, they both had a figure build like walk-in cupboard and did not look very friendly.

When Spinelli had calmed down a bit and Gus had repetedly mentioned that he really would not be able to hold it any longer, Vince came up with the genious idea to just ask the train conductor where the toilet was. So the friends went to look for the aforementioned man. On their way, they had to give way to a row of students since in the meantime there was a hustle and bustle going on in the corridors.  
It seemed like Hogwarts was not so far away anymore!

They heard some rumours saying that this years something extraordinary was going to take place at Hogwarts but this was all the information they gathered. Instead, they started to realize how awefully long this train really was and that also nobody could tell them where they could find the train conductor.  
“Guys, review time!”, demanded T.J., and the friends put their heads together blocking the whole corridor. As nobody wanted to pass them in that moment though it was not a problem.  
“So, we found out that nobody knows anything about a toilet and nobody ever saw the train conductor. Furthermore, there is going to be a big event at Hogwarts but this is most likely not a part of our problem right now. Ideas?” Gretchen adjusted her glasses and said:  
“Well, T.J.: Since we are in an old-fashioned train, the likelyhood that the train conductor can be found in the locomotive is rather high. And that is usually at the front of the train. Therefore, we should walk through the whole train until we are there. We are already walking in the right direction.” Spinelli looked sceptical.  
“And what if the loco is at the end of the train after all? I have seen that before and by the time we would have walked all the way back, Gus will surely have wet his pants.”  
“That very well may be, Spinelli, but when we got on the train the loco was in the front and that could hardly have changed even though it is possible with magic.”  
“Then let’s go”, proclaimed T.J., “to the front end of the train!”  
After a seemingly eternal walk past all kinds of train compartments they actually arrived at door that appeared to be leading to the locomotive. T.J. knocked at first but then rather confident opened the door without awaiting an answer. On the chair in front of an old-fashioned control centre sat – no one.  
The friends froze.  
“But that cannot be!”, exclaimed Gretchen while frenziedly going through her notes. “I completely thought it through. The train has to be controlled because it being without conduct would neither in practice nor in theory make any sense. It is simply impossible!” Vince put a hand on her shoulder and said: “But Gretchen, we are talking about magic, why shouldn’t that be possible?”  
“You do not understand but I calculated everything. Magic also follows a certain logic… This is going to end in a great disaster and nobody except us knows that we will never reach Hogwarts!” Gretchen through her hands in the air and created a dramatic pause.  
A little bit uneasy himself, T.J. tried to appease his friends:  
“Don’t worry, guys. I am sure there must be an explenation. They wouldn’t let a train full of kids simply rush through the landscape on its own… I think…” T.J. gulped and a panicing Spinelli interrupted him: “This can’t possibly end well! WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE FOR SURE!” This statement made everyone go crazy. They started to scream and only wanted to leave the train as soon as possible.  
In this moment, a voice came from behind them: “Sorry, kids. Could you let me through? I have to get back behind the wheel.” The friends turned around. In front of them stood a man around fifty with grey hair and beard. He was wearing a train conductor’s uniform and smiled at them friendly.  
Gretchen let her arms sink down in relief.  
“Thank God, you are real after all. But where were you?” The man smiled.  
“Yes, I’m real. I didn’t even know that I’m such a phenomenon… almost like Santa Clause… Oh well, I was just using the toilet. I wanted to get that done since I can’t leave here once we are close enough to the train station.” Gus who in the meantime had been fallen into some kind of numbness suddenly listened attentively:  
“To-to-toilet?”, he spluttered and the train conductor nodded.  
“Yes, right this door behind me”, he said and pointed with his thumb back over his shoulder. In the next moment Gus had disappeared and the last thing they heard was the clicking of the door lock. “Well, somebody seemed to be in a hurry”, the train conductor said smirking and glanced at his watch.  
“But now hurry up quickly. We will reach the train station of Hogsmeade in about three minutes and you didn’t put your cloaks on yet!”, the train conductor said.  
“My goodness! How could I have forgotten that! That was right on the top of my to-do-list!”, Gretchen exclaimed and dashed off. The others just shrugged and followed her. The mystery of the missing toilet of the Hogwarts Express had been solved and it seemed like it would be a wonderful beginning of their first year in Hogwarts.  
But this should not have been the last adventure that the six friends would experience this year.

 

“Hey guys”, Gus said as he was leaving the toilet, “that had been really good timing, wasn’t it?” Then he noticed suddenly that his friends were not there anymore. “Hey… T.J., Vince? Where are you? Mikey, Spinelli, Gretchen? Hello? HELLO?! Where did you go?”, Gus exclaimed and ran down the abandoned train corridor.


	3. The unbelievable story of the arrival at Hogwarts which is so extensive that – according to Gretchen’s calculations – it’s not possible to summarize it in a decent chapter title

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately this is the last finished chapter that we've got so far. However, there is definitely more to come but it might take a while since this story is sadly not our number 1 priority right now. But be assured that we will continue it sooner or later! (even if it will be waaaay later, it will be continued!)  
> And as ever: Please read and review! Let us know your guess what houses the five friends should be sorted into ;)
> 
> Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter nor Disney’s Recess belong to us and we are not earning any money from writing this.

“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect.“ – Luna Lovegood.

The train was rumbling and shaking as it arrived at the train station of Hogsmeade. The six friends, trying not to loose their balance, waited until the train finally stood still.  
“We’re here!”, Spinelli pointed out the obvious. With shining eyes, the kids spilled out of the Hogwarts Express. That means, they were pushed outside into the cold night by a crowd of older students. When they’ve finally made it to the platform outside, no one really had a chance to take a look around at first. The friends were preoccupied with getting to the sidelines to somehow escape the crowd of students without losing each other in the process.  
“There’s Hagrid! That’s where we need to go!”, exclaimed Gretchen after a while and pointed to a giant man who was swinging a lantern.  
“Firs’-years over ‘ere!” he was just shouting and T.J. grinned. They probably would have figured that out without Gretchen’s brains. With a little bit of effort the small group changed their direction and was now working against the flow of people towards Hagrid.  
When they finally reached their destination, Gus seemed visibly relieved.  
“You know, next time we let Mikey walk in front of us”, announce Vince with a knowing look and Spinelli facepalmed while slumping down on a nearby bench.  
“You couldn’t have come up with this earlier, could you?”  
Vince shrugged and together with Hagrid and some other scattered First-Years, the friends observed how the train station slowly emptied until only some lost-looking, new kids were left.   
Next, Hagrid addressed the First-Years with some welcoming words and eventually they started walking towards the lake. While the older students, according to Gus, were transported to the castle with horseless carriages, they had to walk all the way from the train station to the black lake and would then be riding to the other shore - where the castle was located - in magical boats.  
“Wer’ good in time”, declared Hagrid proudly as they were passing some of the carriages, “Not even all of ‘em have left ye’.”  
“Hey, guys”, said Mikey, “look over there, a foal… doesn’t that look kind of weird?… I’m gonna take a closer look. Be right back.” With these words, Mikey walked off towards the carriages. Unfortunately, nobody of his friends had heard him since they were all too busy keeping up with the group.  
“Why do we have to walk so fast?”, T.J. whispered to Vince who was jogging gracefully beside him.  
“Good question”, he murmured back happily. Gretchen and Spinelli laughed. When T.J. looked at them confused, they just giggled even more and Spinelli said:   
“Just look at Hagrid, he is completely laid-back over there. Not in a hurry at all. If he walked any slower he would be going backwards.”  
“That’s right”, T.J. reluctantly agreed, “but why is he so tall in the first place?”  
“If my calculations are correct”, explained Gretchen pulling out her note pad once again, “such a impressive height is only achievable through a genetic predisposition like it’s the case with giants. However, they are even taller than Hagrid. I would say that he is probably a half-blood - half-human and half-giant.”   
“Well, there are surely some peculiar things in this world”, declared Vince shaking his head and ran into another first-year student who had just jerked to a halt in front of him.   
“Oh”, he exclaimed surprised but when he noticed why the boy, who didn’t even notice him, had stopped he totally forgot to apologize.   
The group had just rounded a corner and was now having a clear view of the castle.  
“Aaaaaah”s and “Oooooh”s could be heard from everywhere and one girl sighed: “It’s like in a fairytale!” Spinelli snorted contemptuously but she couldn’t quite manage to exclude herself from the girly sighing since she was just as fascinated by the tall building with the pointy towers and brightly-lit windows.  
Hagrid laughed joyfully and let the children enjoy the view for another couple of minutes before he pushed them onwards towards the black lake. Again and again the children stumbled and almost fell down since nobody payed attention to the path but instead most of them kept staring enchantedly at their new home.  
“According to ‘Hogwarts: A History’ it is unclear when the castle was actually built and when the school was founded. However, it is assumed to have taken place somewhere around the year 1000”, explained Gretchen without anyone having asked. Nobody said anything and she continued: “There are 142 staircases in the castle which partially change direction. In addition, almost everything that you can find inside changes its place without any outward interference. Doors, windows, portraits, and other artefacts and so on. And because there are doors which are actually walls or passages that are hidden behind portraits or curtains it is relatively hard to find your way around.”  
Some of the kids who had actually been listening halfheartedly were looking quite distraught now. “No worries. Yeh’ll get by with a bit o’ practice!”, Hagrid calmed the children. Then he announced: “So, weh’ here. Always fou’ people per boat an’ then we’ll take off.”  
The students who already knew someone immediately came together in groups on the dock in order to get into one boat while the others followed hesitantly.  
Only when the chaos was over and T.J. was sitting in a boat securely, he got a chance to orientate himself. He was - together with Gus, Spinelli, and a pale girl with a pigtail - quite a bit ahead to the other boats. Curiously, he looked around and examined some of the new faces for the first time. He noticed Vince halfway across the lake. He was sitting in a boat together with Gretchen. They were right next to Hagrid who took up a boat on his own. In Vince’s boat there was a boy with so close-cropped hair that in the faint light of the lantern it looked as if he had no hair at all, and there was a girl with dark skin and black dreadlocks. Apart from that, T.J. only noticed two boys with blond locks who looked completely identical. He frowned and turned to Gus and Spinelli.  
“Where’s Mikey?”, he asked and continued scanning the crowd for his friend.  
“No idea”, Gus answered and turned around clumsily which caused the boat to shake quite a bit. Pigtail-girl latched on to the railing with wide eyes.  
“But he is so big that we couldn’t have overlooked him”, T.J. realized and Spinelli added calmly: “He’s probably somewhere behind Hagrid’s boat. That man’s so big, we wouldn’t be able to see Mikey at all. That reminds me, do you think that Mikey could also be a half-giant?”  
“Come off it!”, Gus waved aside her comment, “He would have told us!” But at the same time he suddenly didn’t look so sure anymore: “Or, wouldn’t he?”  
Just as T.J. opened his mouth to disagree with Spinelli, he noticed a boy with mousy hair on the brink of their little fleet who was leaning threateningly far over the edge of his boat. In a blink of an eye he had already slumped into the cold water.  
Everyone stared with wide, fearful eyes at the spot where he had disappeared. The water in that spot was now bubbling forbiddingly.  
“Don’ you worry, kids!”, Hagrid said in a calming voice, but he didn’t elaborate. Instead, he stared steadfast at the same spot that the others were watching. Suddenly, a giant kraken appeared out of the black depth. The boy, who was flailing his arms and legs agitatedly, was wrapped in one of the animal’s tentacles.  
“I’m fine”, the boy called and gasped for breath while the huge kraken dispatched the boy together with a big flush of water back onto his boat. The other three kids sitting in his boat screamed and lifted their feet in order to avoid getting wet.  
“How great is that?”, it sounded from T.J. at the same time, “say, Gretchen, did you know that they had such a cool kraken in the lake?”  
Gretchen looked at him a bit bemused. “Uh, of course T.J., I mean it is mentioned several time in ‘Hogwarts: A History’ as well as in some other sources that lead to the same conclusion.”  
As T.J. started to feel stupid, he heard Vince’s voice across the lake: “Hey, T.J.! They have a kraken here! Super cool, huh?” Given that, T.J. had to smile and replied: “Yeah, totally!”  
“Thanks”, Hagrid called towards the kraken as he steered his boat past T.J. in the direction of the soaking wet child. When he made it to the kid’s boat, he struggled a bit to get out of his huge coat but eventually he passed it to the boy who was completely smothered with it.  
“Thank you”, he squeaked and engulfed himself in the coat.  
The rest of the journey the kids spent with observing and speculating about the giant kraken that kept swimming around them in circles cheerfully.   
Ultimately, most of them were quite disappointed when they suddenly had reached the other shore. Hagrid directed them through a boathouse towards a subterrestrail corridor. There, it was cold and gloomy. The friends shivered but, nevertheless, bravely kept following the keeper of the keys through the intertwined corridor. Technically speaking, you couldn’t quite call it a ‘corridor’. The whole thing rather looked like a stalactite cave than a real corridor.  
“Careful”, Gretchen piped up, “we have to keep up with Hagrid now. The caves below the castle are namely built like a labyrinth. If we get lost here we might never get out. In fact, according to ‘Hogwarts – Secrets Unveiled’, there are at least three known cases where someone disappeared.” The rest of the friends nodded and quickly turned up their pace a bit.  
“Now, we jus’ need to go through here then we’re there”, he explained to the First-Years, “you, can yeh’ do it?”, he asked the boy with the mousy hair who looked as if he would collapse under the weight of Hagrid’s coat any second now. Regardless of that, he courageously nodded anyways and, as proof of it, he trudged onwards. The group hadn’t even walked for two minutes, when T.J. suddenly stopped abruptly. His friends turned to him and looked at him with questioning eyes while the rest of the First-Years just kept walking ahead.  
“What’s up?”, Spinelli asked and T.J. stared at her with a concerned look.  
“Mikey! I haven’t seen him!”, he proclaimed and grabbed Spinelli’s shoulder in a dramatic gesture.  
“Okay, we’ll look for him!”, she replied and shook off T.J.’s hand.  
“Did you even listen to me at all?! We can’t fall behind or we’ll get lost!”, Gretchen gave cause for concern.  
“Gretchen, this is Mikey we’re talking about! What do you think how he feels all by himself?”, T.J. responded quite irritated by her comment.  
“Very well then, who has seen Mikey last and where?”, Gretchen asked with a grave voice, but the friends looked at each other clueless. They had been too distracted to pay attention. “He probably got lost in one of these corridors and wasn’t able to find us”, Gus proposed, “he can’t have gotten very far.”  
“And why should he just leave the group?”, Vince asked sceptical. Spinelly rolled her eyes.  
“He must’ve seen a particularly beautiful stone and stopped to take a closer look or something. You know Mikey! Maybe his shoelaces came undone and he had to re-establish his complicated knotting style before he could go on. He can’t have been gone for long, someone would have noticed. After all, Mikey is definitely not the smallest of us.”  
“Sounds logical”, T.J. noticed, “Let’s go back the way where we came from, he has to be somewhere around.”  
And so the friends began their search for Mikey. After a short walk, Gretchen stopped looking confused and started flipping through her note pad in an irritated way.  
“Something’s wrong, normally the boathouse should be right here.” Now the others also looked around clueless.  
“Oh well, you must be wrong. After all, everything looks just the same here”, Vince suggested unconvincingly, but Gretchen shook her head and insisted on her estimation.  
Since they couldn’t come up with a better solution, they continued their search for Mikey more or less systematically. However, nothing within the tunnels differentiated one from the next. Everything just looked the same as Vince had correctly pointed out.  
“Which house do you think you’ll be sorted into?” Gus continued their conversation that they had started sometime during the train ride.  
“You mean, if we get out of here in time for the sorting ceremony?” Spinelli asked sarcastically and then continued: “Well, I think I’m gonna be in Slytherin. But Ravenclaw wouldn’t be bad either. At least then I would be in the same house as Gretchen.”  
“You can not just assume that I am going to be a Ravenclaw,” Gretchen ranted, “Although, to be honest, I would quite like it … “ The others had stopped to throw a “stop-kidding-around-you-can’t-really-believe-what-you’re-saying”-look at Gretchen.  
“We could make a bet,” T.J. suggested, “I bet that Gretchen gets into Ravenclaw. Looser has to… Well, he has to… something. Any proposals what we could establish as a dare?”  
“How about the looser has to spend a night in the toilet of Moaning Myrtle?”, Spinelli suggested. “Moaning Myrtle? Who is that supposed to be?”, asked T.J. confused. Gretchen, who took to this like a duck to water, quickly piped up: “Moaning Myrtle is the ghost who haunts the first floor girl’s bathroom at Hogwarts. About fifty years ago she was a student who met a gruesome end in that very same bathroom. But that does not really matter as of right now since I am definitely against it. I do not plan to get detention for breaking the rules when we literally just arrived at this school. The risk of getting caught is just too high!”  
“Don’t be such a killjoy, Gretchen! The risk of it is what makes it fun,” Spinelli explained and rolled her eyes, “but ok. How about this: the looser has to go to Hermione Granger, introduce him- or herself to her and out themselves as her biggest fan!”  
The friends looked at each other, tilted their heads and eventually nodded whereupon Spinelli raised her fist triumphantly into the air.  
“… so here we go”, said T. J., “I bet that Gretchen will get into Ravenclaw!”  
“Agreed”, declared Spinelli.  
“Yup”, Vince casually replied.  
“I guess so”, Gus added.  
“Gee guys”, said T.J., “It doesn’t work when nobody has a counter opinion.”  
“Alright”, Gretchen announced, “I counter! I am of the opinion that I also hold qualities other than my intelect. I bet I get into Hufflepuff.”  
“Just like Mikey!”, assured Vince. This declaration also received only approval.  
“Oh, I probably get into Gryffindor just like my dad”, gushed Gus and T.J. laid an arm around his shoulder smiling.  
“I think you’re more of a Hufflepuff-type, Gus”, he said and Spinelli added:  
“You’re too good to be a Gryffindor, you’re not such a headless go-getter.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Vince wanted to know, but Spinelli was able to dodge the answer to that question because Gretchen exclaimed:  
“Look, there is a door over there!” Fast as lightning, the kids reached the end of the path and listened if they could hear something on the other side of the portal. But everything was silent. T. J. nodded his head to his friends and Vince slowly pushed down the door handle. Together, the friends entered the huge room.  
“Hey, there you are!”, a voice called from the other end of the hall.  
“Mikey!”, exclaimed Spinelli and ran with the others towards her friend who stood there with the rest of the First-Years.  
“Where have you been?”, asked Gus and Mikey clapped his hands together excitedly before he began: “I lost sight of the group because I was taking a look at the weird horses that pulled the carriages. When I noticed that you were gone, I first thought that I would have to stay forever at the train station, but then one of the carriages stopped and the students told me that I could ride with them up to the castle. And now guess who was in that carriage!” Mikey didn’t wait for their answer but immediately blurted out: “Harry Potter and Hermione Granger! And the other two boys were called Ron and Neville!”  
“WHAT?!”, Gus shouted aghast and raised his hands to the ceiling, “Why? Why ever? Why didn’t I get lost?”  
“Did you get him to sign anything for you?”, asked Spinelli eagerly, but Mikey shook his head and was just about to say something when a strict-looking lady audibly cleared her throat.   
“Whenever you’re done with your gossiping, I would like to lead you into the Great Hall now, we don’t want to make the others wait unnecessarily, do we?” They blushed, paired up and joined the queue of other First-Years.  
The woman pushed open the great double wing door and the group followed her quickly.  
No one heard Spinelli mumble: “But the carriages weren’t drawn by anything…”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for giving this a shot! 
> 
> This work is a collaboration of myself and my friend emion. It's a work in progress but for the most part it's on hiatus. 
> 
> Nevertheless we hope you enjoy this story and will come back for more! There's a lot more we would like to explore and it's sure gonna be scandalous! 
> 
> (Also if you found any typos or grammar mistakes that's my bad cause we both aren't native speakers and I'm trying my best to translate this work. You can also find us on fanfiction.net and fanfiktion.de (Hogwarts Große Pause))
> 
> Also this is the very first story I'll be posting on this website so if something seems off it's probably cause I have no clue how to work out all the options that you have. Sorry for that but I'm trying my best :)
> 
> (Hopefully) 'Til next time!


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